Ontario has been coal free since 2014.

https://www.desmog.ca/...officially-coal-free

The result? The highest electricity rates in the country.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Nah, in the future our kids won't dig for diamonds, they'll jump a ride on some type of Space-X rocket to a diamond planet to buy an engagement ring

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

We can't get people to buy in to the synthetic diamonds produced on Earth, why would you think that they'd be willing to buy from space? Plus, I'm pretty sure that De Beers will manipulate the market again in order to encourage the common folk to believe that alien diamonds are inferior quality or that possessing one will slowly leak hazardous space radiation into your system and kill you. It'll be best to keep our carbon purchases local.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

http://www.cbc.ca/...ng-ontario-1.3938179

The minimal benefits of shutting down all of Ontario's coal-fired power plants didn't justify the cost of the closures, according to a new study from the Fraser Institute.

http://www.torontosun.com/...uce-pollution-report

Ontario’s hell-bent determination to phase out coal-fired generation raised electricity rates without significantly improving air pollution levels, a new Fraser Institute report says.

Report co-author Ross McKitrick, an economics professor at the University of Guelph, said the findings should act as a cautionary tale for Alberta and Ottawa currently going down the same road.

Even though there was reliable information available at the time that showed Ontario coal was not a big player in common air pollution ingredients, the political agenda made it impossible to discuss less expensive options to full closure, he said.

http://business.financialpost.com/...even-knew-it-wouldnt

Ross McKitrick: Turns out Ontario’s painful coal phase-out didn’t help pollution — and Queen’s Park even knew it wouldn’t

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~
"You lie!" The Prophet Joe Wilson

Yes, it has been a bit of a shit show.

But we have some sweet turbines.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

So, if we all (US States/Provinces) fired down the coal plants - using them proportionally to the lack of sun and wind; and used solar, wind, and nuke power when they are available...

Would the percentage of carbon emissions be reduced significantly?
Would energy costs increase/decrease/static?
Would only Mitch and his sugar daddies die slowly - politically and monetarily?
Would we all be forced to subsidize the migration and re-training of 174,000 (US) coal miners?
Would we (as athletes) be able to breath better when re-purposing coal country for MTB pilgrimages?

Canadians, I love you guys, eh? But I also know, if an American is even slightly inconvenienced... They vote for the other guy.

People need to spend some time in the desert.

Then they need to spent some time looking at the solar panel farms that are being put in the desert. They are creating biological dead zones. Scorched earth, literally.

It's really sad what's being done in the name of "saving the planet".

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

To what extent have you researched and specifically witnessed the degradation of the desert? I'm not saying that it is not occurring. I am simply asking what, and how much of the biology of the desert is dead or dying?

I spend a lot of time in the desert. Contrary to what some idiots think deserts are biologically diverse ecosystems.

Solar panel fields are installed, some of them taking up huge swaths of desert. Nothing can survive in these fields. Nothing.

This speaks to the damage not in the immediate vicinity of the panels...

https://phys.org/...ide-solar-power.html

Here's a pro-solar write that addresses some of the issues...

http://wilderness.org/world’s-largest-solar-plant-go-live-california’s-mojave-desert

You can see in some photos that nothing lives in the solar field...

Compare....



...to...





Really all one needs to do is go look. The contrast is stark and obvious.

Is this what we really want?

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Now whodathunk that Duffy, always the critic of selective editing in the MSM, would engage in just such practice himself to overstate his point! Nice move to contrast the worst picture of a solar park you could find to the sweetest nicest pictures of desert scenes you could find (from completely different places, though, but who really cares for the finer details). You could have also used this picture from the same park:



Doesn't look quite as dead, though, so doesn't fit the narrative. In fact, come to think of it, the area surrounding the park doesn't look so much different from the area inside the park.
I'm not saying there aren't any problems, and the wilderness.org article you linked to discusses this as well. I just find it amusing that you engage in the same "the sky is falling" rethoric that you so criticize when it comes from others.

Coal doesn't burn itself, people burn coal.

Go there.

Get back to me after your visit. The photo showing vegetation had to have been made shortly after install.

There is nothing but dead earth under those panels now.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Sadly no. But if you'll tolerate a Ford story, my most terrifying, and thrilling car ride was when I was about 14 or 15. Some older kid whose name I don't remember, who I just met, and who I never saw again, took for for a ride in a 1967-ish Ford Galaxy with four on the floor and 428. (Think Wooderson, i.e. Matthew McConaughey, in Dazed and Confused.) Double yellow lines and blind hill or curve meant time to pass for him. I was terrified, but still smile at the thought of the sound of the car and feel of the acceleration.

Big blocks are special. They would be exempted, along with all American made muscle cars, if I was king. My problem is the crappy British sports cars from the 60s and 70s. Driving them once a month pollutes as much as driving a modern V6 mustang daily. Those cars should be banned unless retrofitted with modern pollution control engines.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Well, at least as of July 2016 there was more than just dead earth under those panels.

It would drive up the cost of electricity and my friends with electric cars would pay more to charge them up.

It would help spur the growth of alternative energy sources, which is why Obama wanted to bankrupt the coal energy. I never understood why he would say that publicly? He's a pretty smart guy and that's a self destructive comment.

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#WeAreTheForge #BlackGunsMatter

"Look, will you guys at leats accept that you are a bunch of dumb asses and just trust me on this one? Please?" BarryP 7/30/2012

I suggest you use google and search "desert solar impact".

Maybe you'll learn something.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

I'm aware of the fact that there are problems with this technology.
You used hyperbole and overstated your point.
These two facts are not mutually exclusive.

Again, I recommend you go look for yourself.

I suggest you drive along CA 138 between Mojave and Gorman. Man's impact in various forms can be seen quite clearly, including thatvof solar farms.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Not sure exactly what you are asking, but unfortunately the easiest systems to power up/down are the clean systems. You can shut off dams, windmills, and solar panels and the water/wind/sun keeps running, but without providing power. If you shut off a coal plant, the coal still burns.

IOW, simply flipping a switch will only shut off the turbines, not what powers it. In the case of the first three, a switch flip is all that is needed. In the case of coal, you have to shut off the really really really hot fire and then later start a fire and make it really really really hot.

Now, that doesn't mean that you can't replace those plants with better technology. It just means when you are looking at peak vs down loads, its the others that will be turned on and off. Coal will always be on.

.....more or less.......feel free to let an expert chime in.

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-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485